Bellator is basically holding Alvarez hostage in order to pick a fight with the UFC. Should Alvarez win in court it will essentially mean that Bellator can't match any offer the UFC makes, meaning any fighter the UFC wants is theirs when their Bellator contract expires.

On the other hand, if there is no time limit to Bellator's contract does that mean they can keep matching any offers Alvarez gets and lock him up in Bellator for the rest of his career?

Besides even if Bellator wins in court that doesn't mean Alvarez will fight for them...in fact after a drawn out legal battle its less likely he ever steps inside a bellator cage again. He'll just not sign the UFC deal meaning that he's still a FA with Bellator reserving the right to match any offer he gets.

Dana was right...this is becoming a mess

I wonder if UFC can keep offering him contracts. My thinking is it was a one time thing. UFC offers and Bellator had to match and they did.

I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff we still don't know about it.

I know if I was running Bellator and had the option to keep one of my best fighters, I would.

So the question of the PPV bonus may not come into play. The contracts could play out in different ways.

If Eddie goes to the UFC and gets a title-match and PPV bonus then he's better off in the UFC. If he goes to the UFC and loses then he would've been better off in Bellator.

If he beats Chandler then he's better off in Bellator, unless he gets a title shot with PPV bonus in the UFC instead... No one can say where he's better off without speculating how he will do in both organizations. His chances of success are however better off in Bellator most would agree. Zuffa filled their contract with speculation which made things messy.

Zuffa put potential earnings into a contract. How can the judge know if Eddie will get a title-shot or not? The UFC could've guaranteed him one and the whole thing would've been over but instead they offered him a potential one... How many UFC fighters have been told their next in line for a title shot, and never recieved that title shot... a lot of fighters. Dana said things would get messy because Zuffa designed a contract that would make the trial messy. It's filled with Speculative potential money offers. Which in reality could amount to nothing or a lot but no one knows which one that is.

If you believe that Dana won't give Eddie a title-shot or he won't earn one than he's better off in Bellator. If you think Eddie will come in and kick ass and get a title-shot then he's better off in Bellator.

Zuffa argue that they have more exposure, but Bellator can argue that despite that they have a new platform, in Spike (which helped make the UFC) which will increase their's and Eddie's exposure. Bellator will promote Eddie more, but to less people (potentially more in the future), and UFC would promote Eddie less but with more exposure.

I feel sorry for the judge. Even as an MMA fan it's tough to say. I think he's better off in Bellator financially speaking.

And how is Eddie affording a team of 6 lawyers and why would he go to all that expense when 3 would be more than enough? Is Zuffa probably paying for his legal team? I wouldn't put it past them.

They offered Eddie over twice what they pay Bendo... Seems supsicious to me. Eddie isn't even the Bellator champ, why does the UFC want him so badly? I think they just want to hurt Bellator's chances of success now that they're on Spike. That's why they just went after Hecotr recently. Thats why they made a crazy contract. They knew Bellator could match the $75k to show, $75k to win, with $250,000 signing bonus part. They threw in the PPV potential to tie things up in court. That's why Dana said things were going to get ugly. Eddie has came to the UFC twice before this looking for an offer and gone elsewhere because he was lowballed by them. Why all of a sudden now, after losing to Chandler do they want Eddie so badly? Because they're threatened by Bellator being on Spike and want to hurt their chances of success, why else?